But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey.
Romans 15:23-24 (NLT)
If you could take your dream trip anywhere in the world, where would you go? A chalet in the Alps? Kicking it at the beach on a South Pacific island? Site seeing through Europe? A Caribbean cruise? Maybe a week in a kingdom run by a mouse? There are so many amazing places in the world, it’s hard to choose just one place.
The Apostle Paul had a dream destination. For years he planned and waited for an opportunity to go to the most important city on the planet at that time – Rome. It was the capital of the Roman Empire and the most powerful and influential place Paul could think of to preach the Gospel. In his letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul wrote that “after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you.” Paul’s dream was about to come true! He would travel to Rome as a preacher to tell as many people as possible about the resurrected Christ.
Well, Paul did eventually make it to Rome, but not as a preacher. Paul got to Rome as a prisoner. He had been arrested and imprisoned for preaching about Jesus and because riots broke out wherever he did so. So now he was being sent to Rome for a trial before Caesar. Instead of arriving in Rome in style, Paul arrived in chains. But that didn’t deter Paul.
For two years Paul told anyone he could about Jesus, which started to lite a flame that became a fire. When Paul arrived in Rome, one-half of one percent of the world had heard of Jesus (and no one in Rome had heard of Paul). But centuries later, almost 3 billion people are Christians, and there is a statue of the Apostle Paul in Rome. The point? God will always get you where you need to go, even if the route doesn’t look like what you planned. But it’s ok, because you can trust Him.
How has your life turned out as you imagined? How has it turned out differently than you imagined? How have you seen God working in all of it?